Rocksteady: Overview

No, not the No Doubt album. And not the Whispers' big hit, classic though it may be (and it is.)

Jun 15, 2020

“Rocksteady is a different thing. The guitar just ‘bop, bop, bop’ and every two ‘bop’ you drop the drum.” – Bobby Aitkin, the Carribbeats

At first blush, classifying the differences between ska, rocksteady and reggae might seem like splitting hairs. But we think they’re important hairs. (Or important splits? You get the idea.)

In the beginning, aka the late 1950s, there was ska. Drawing its influences from Jamaican folk music (aka mento — a new-to-us genre that we’ll probably have to do a week on at some point), calypso and American R&B, its “skank” beat clocked in at around 110 to 135 BPM. It was upbeat. It was danceable. And it dominated Jamaican music through the mid-1960s.

Fast forward to 1966-ish. The landscape of American music was changing, with soul music coming into its own. And, frankly, ska musicians’ arms were getting tired.

Enter Hopeton Lewis.

Although most agree that the genre takes its name from Alton Ellis, Hopeton Lewis’ Take It Easy is considered by many to be the first rocksteady recording. Rumor is that Lewis couldn’t fit all the words in at ska’s pace. Whether that’s true or not, we have no clue. What is true is that at a chill 80 to 100 BPM, rocksteady is decidedly slower than ska.

But rocksteady isn’t just slow ska … there are also rhythmic and thematic differences. Walking basslines gave way to a more steady, picking style with a signature “chirp;” horns took a bit of a back seat; and the slower tempo allowed vocal harmonies to really shine.

It’s probably also not a surprise that the slower tempo paved the way for lyrical shifts. With its strong American soul influences, lots of rocksteady is for making love and then crying about when it’s over. Many songs also incorporated some social themes, most specifically embracing or rejecting rude boys — the disaffected (and often violent) youth associated with the dancehall music scene of the time.

By 1967, rocksteady had made its way onto U.S. and U.K. radios. And by the fall of 1968…

It was gone. Gone, but not forgotten. Well, not by us, anyway.

Thank you, rocksteady. Sincerely, reggae.

`Key Album`

There really isn’t a key rocksteady album, the movement was short-lived, and many rocksteady artists started in ska and transitioned to reggae. But one album that really captures the soulful, slowed down sounds of rocksteady is The Paragons’ “On the Beach with the Paragons” (1967). Songs like “On the Beach” and “The Tide is High” (made famous by, but so much better than, the Blondie version) really capture the sound and spirit of the genre.